Down 42nd Street: Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossroads of the World (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "HOW'M I DOIN'?..." (more)
Key Phrases: corporate alley, midtown west, New York, Times Square, New Amsterdam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Down 42nd Street, Marc Eliot offers a fascinating and pugnacious history of what may be the most famous street in the United States--or at least the most famously decadent one. "By 1980, [New York's] fabled Manhattan crossroads had become ground zero for the manufacture, exhibition, and distribution of pornography, drug dealing, pedophilia, prostitution, and violent street crime," he writes. Eliot describes 42nd Street's development over time, and he's not afraid to go after a few sacred cows. Here's what he says about the "greatest generation" right after the Second World War: "GIs returning to the U.S. via New York City's harbors and ports were point men in the postwar sex and drug revolution." Today, of course, 42nd Street is a very different place, thanks to a conscious cleanup effort that has brought in Disney and other corporations. Eliot views this trend with a distaste that other may not feel: by the end of the 20th century, he notes with irritation, "42nd Street had become a horizontal Statue of Liberty, a place native New Yorkers avoided like Yellow Fever." All in all, Down 42nd Street is an excellent piece of opinionated urban history told with verve. --John Miller

From Publishers Weekly

A rambunctious social and political history of Times Square and "the deuce" street slang for 42nd Street covers a lot of territory, but makes its points with wit and an insider's keen insight. Eliot, co-author of Erin Brockovitch's forthcoming advice book Take It from Me! and of Barry White's Love Unlimited, piles up fascinating historic details, from Revolutionary War battles on the nascent site of 42nd Street to the building of Grand Central Terminal; from the growth of New York's theater district to how the business-oriented Committee of 14 attacked prostitution, censored theaters and nearly killed Broadway from 1904 to 1930. Explaining how the street became famous for sophistication and then for sex, grime and crime, Eliot is best when focusing on the economic developments that shaped the area: Vanderbilt bullying city officials to build Grand Central; Ed Koch's deals with developers for redevelopment in the 1980s that destroyed many historic theaters; the Gambino crime syndicate's lost claim on the area to "a rodent of a different sort" the Disney corporation. Comfortable and conversant with a wide range of cultural artifacts and events (Dead End Kids movies, the changing censorship laws of the 1950s and '60s, changing fast food habits of New Yorkers), Eliot paints a lively portrait of urban life. While the book would have been helped by drawing upon newer, groundbreaking critical works such as Samuel R. Delaney's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, it does present a popular and engaging look at "the crossroads of the world."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (November 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446525715
• ISBN-13: 978-0446525718
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,872,572 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars YOU CAN HEAR THE BEAT OF 42nd STREET IN THIS READING, January 10, 2002

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Down 42nd Street : Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossroads of theWorld (Audio Cassette)

You can almost hear the actual beat of New York's 42nd Street in this finely articulated reading by the author. You surely learn a great deal about the history of this fabled avenue of broken dreams that was once home to mob rule, illicit sex, on-the-take politicos, and glamorous denizens of the theatre both above and below ground.
Today it has morphed into a family playground boasting clean entertainment. The only Xs to be seen are where children stand to have their pictures taken.
"Down 42nd Street" opens in the 1890s when the Big Apple saw elegant townhouses and the emergence of Wall Street and entertainment moguls. As the new century dawned 42nd Street had become a business district to the east, and the home of show business to the west.
The aftermath of World War II saw the west side of the Street descend into drug dealer's turf with violent crime an everyday occurrence and prostitutes at the ready.
Both fascinating and informative "Down 42nd Street" is quite a trip!

- Gail Cooke

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Caveat Emptor: Enjoyable But Flawed, March 30, 2002

By	Steve Iaco (northern new jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Down 42nd Street : Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossroads of theWorld (Audio Cassette)

"Down 42nd Street" is a path I walk five days a week. It has been enjoyable to watch the stunning metamorphosis of this grand boulevard over the past decade or so. It was, therefore, with eager anticipation that I picked up this new history of 42nd Street.

On one level, it was an enjoyable read, offering illuminating anecdotes such as the encampment of George Washington's troops on the grounds of what is now the New York Public Library during the pivotal Battle of New York. In the 19th Century, the site would house the Croton Reservoir colossus. On the adjacent property, the Crystal Palace pavallion -- featuring the tallest structure in New York at the time -- became the City's premier social gathering place until it burned down while firefighters futilely tried to draw ground-level water from the high-walled reservoir. The demise of the Crystal Palace would clear the way for the development of Bryant Park on this site in the period after the Civil War.

The book is loaded with fascinating tidbits like these for people who enjoy history.

A good portion of the book is devoted to the spreading hegemony of illicit drugs, pornography and crime on West 42nd Street in the period after World War II, and the reclamation of the street in the 1990s. This is where "Down 42nd Street" falls down. The author -- an entertainment writer -- presents several misstatements that seriously tarnish his narrative. At one point, he asserts that Olympia & York owned Rockefeller Center -- hugh?? -- and contends that in 1981, "Governor" Cuomo dropped his opposition to the selection of a lead developer after Mayor Koch hinted at challenging the "Governor" in 1982. (Cuomo did not become Governor until 1983 following a primary challenge from Koch in the fall of 1982! Don't they employ factcheckers at Warner Books?)

The storyline really becomes muddled when describing the sequence of events in Times Square in 1990s, and it is clear that the author is out of his element here. He creates the appearance that the Conde Nast Building was the last of the four "elephant legs" in the 42nd Street Redevelopment Plan to be built. It was the first. He has Morgan Stanley purchasing its headquarters on Broadway and 49th Street AFTER the groundbreaking on the "elephant legs" when, in fact, the purchase pre-dated the Conde Nast groundbreaking by at least two years. He has Bertelsmann -- a true Times Square pioneer -- moving into its Broadway headquarters in 1999, about five years late. The list could go on.

These factual flaws diminish what started out as an enjoyable history. Caveat Emptor.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Captures Feel of the Street, Despite some Muddy History, February 8, 2002

By	Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Marc Elliot's Down 42nd Street (Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossoads of the World) may frustrate some history mavens looking for exact truth but will be a thrill to anyone who wants to read a book that truly captures the spirit of 42nd Street. The first part of the book is the historical buildup to the author's main playground, the years of fighting to fix the street from Lindsay to Giuliani (with a wonderful portrayal of Koch, for an added thrill) as the street moved from the Crossroads of the (Porn and Drug) World to a branch of the Disney franchise. The book does deliver the sex, money, culture, and politics of its subtitle, in very healthy doses. There are no startling revelations only many, many small thrills, much like the street itself. An enjoyable read.